2022 was a tough year with thousands of layoffs in tech companies, including the game studios. We heard much heartbreaking news for the employees, such as layoffs and inequalities. Microsoft’s Xbox workforce is one of the studios affected by the waves. Microsoft ended its work with nearly 10.000 employees, and this meant a spiritual, financial crisis for them. After those happened, Xbox CEO Phil Spencer stated the job cutoffs. Spencer released a long letter telling how sad he was and how hard the decision was to make.
Phil Spencer Talks About The Xbox Layoffs
The Xbox Team isn’t only the team who takes care of the consoles. Microsoft redesigned the brand and made it a kind of game studio. Now, Xbox is a console, a game developer, a marketplace, and a culture. This became possible with its team’s hard work, and they achieved a goal by doing this. It’s unknown whether layoffs will affect the company, but 10.000 layoffs aren’t minimal for a brand like Xbox. The employees weren’t only working for Xbox; they were Microsoft employees. The company’s layoff mostly affected Xbox, so it’s related to CEO Phil Spencer. Here’s a part of his letter, which Kotaku shares:
“This has been a difficult week across Microsoft, and here, inside our teams. Now that many of the 1:1 and team conversations have happened, I want to take a moment to reiterate the message that you heard from your leaders,” Spencer’s email began.
“This is a challenging moment in our business, and this week’s actions were painful choices. The Gaming Leadership Team (GLT) had to make decisions that we felt set us up for the long-term success of our products and business, but the individual results of those decisions are real. I know that hurts. Thank you for supporting our colleagues as they process these changes.
“Over the coming weeks we will have many opportunities to connect and answer your questions, including the Monthly Gaming Update next week for teams who attend that meeting, and I am in close contact with teams at ZeniMax to provide support,” Spencer adds “The GLT and I are committed to being as transparent as we can. Moving forward with ambiguity is challenging, but I am confident that we will get through this difficult moment together.
“Xbox has a long history of success thanks to the work you do in service of players, creators, and each other,” the message concludes. “Your work is so deeply appreciated and valued in these times of change and is integral to our business momentum. I am confident in our future and proud to be part of this team, but also conscious that this is a challenging time, and I want to thank you for everything you do here.”
The pandemic and the post-pandemic time is full of crisis. We hope all the Microsoft ex-workers good luck with their job search. Many companies took the same decision as Phil Spencer, and that is also expected to affect the consumer side. It’s not certain, but 2023 could feature a few annoying delays.